A Simple, Compact Filtering Patch Antenna Based on Mode Analysis With Wide Out-of-Band Suppression

A simple, compact filtering patch antenna with wide out-of-band suppression is presented, where the filtering mechanism is first analyzed and implemented based on mode analysis of a conventional patch antenna. According to the mode analysis, undesired higher-order modes can be effectively suppressed by selecting a proper length ratio of two sides of the patch and the feeding position, thus realizing a wide upper stopband. To further enhance the filtering response, another two simple filtering structures loaded on the patch antenna are also proposed. First, a split-ring-shaped slot is etched on the patch to generate a radiation null at the lower-band edge for improving skirt selectivity. Second, a U-shaped strip is etched underneath the patch and connected with the feeding probe, which can introduce another null at the upper band edge. As a result, a high suppression level of 23 dB in lower and upper stopbands can be realized, respectively, for the proposed filtering antenna, while the upper stopband can extend up to 2.3 f
₀
(f
₀
is the center frequency of the antenna). Furthermore, wide passband response can also be achieved by the extra in-band resonances existing in the slot and the strip. A filtering antenna prototype is fabricated and measured for demonstration. Good agreements between the simulated and the measured results are observed, indicating a large impedance bandwidth of 22.6%, high antenna efficiency of 95.6%, and an average gain of about 7.4 dBi. Compared with the reported filtering antennas, the proposed filtering antenna can achieve better wideband filtering response but with a simpler configuration.